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Using Basecamp to communicate across the organisation

I get asked from time to time how we work across nine with people scattered across the world at any given time (hey I’m writing this over the Atlantic).

Here at BMT we use a tool called Basecamp to support our communication. It is a tried and trusted tool used by thousands of people. We use it because effective communication is critical yet very hard to do at scale. We use it for both internal communication and working with partners on our products and services.

You can read about it’s tools etc on their website so I won’t repeat it here. In short the reason we don’t just use email like everyone else is because email across 150+ people is asking for trouble. Instead we choose a different path.

Basecamp is purely for communicating.

We need to share announcements, proposals, decisions and such like to group’s or globally across our organisation via our HQ group which every person is part of. Using Basecamp makes it the go to place for this.

Over time Basecamp becomes a form of corporate memory. When did we decide X? Answer check Basecamp. Why did we decide Y? Answer check Basecamp. People may leave but their comments remain. Clever huh.

Doing effective meetings is difficult and time consuming. Often times people just want to know the outcome. Share your proposal to a group(s) and get their feedback. To make it sweeter, get their feedback or approval when they are ready. Why wait for a meeting in two weeks when you can make it a simple proposal and get approval. One of our strategic aims is to support working anywhere at any time and this underpins our ability to do so.

Get it on your desktop or mobile if you choose.

We can make as many groups as we need and share with external partners.

Does Basecamp work well? Yes very much so.

However getting us all to use it effectively is a game of patience!

If I had to pick the biggest gripe people have with the tool it is confusion around managing notifications. When you normally post a message by default the setting notifies everyone in the group. It is easy to change but isn’t a behaviour most use/understand is possible.

My personal experience too is that writing with clarity is the key and that’s a skill most of us need to continually hone.

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Reading list 2024

Every year I document the books I read. You can see a decade or so via the archives starting with the most recent 2023.

  1. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. shirer. Finished 14 January 2024 on kindle.
  2. The Art of the Turnaround by Michael M. Kaiser. Finished 30 March 2024 hardback isbn 9781584657354
  3. Museums and Societal Collapse – The Museum as Lifeboat by Robert R. Janes finished 5th April 2024 in Amsterdam. ISBN 9781032382241. Took lots of notes, agreed with a bunch of stuff, doing some of the recommendations but more to do. Def worth sharing.
  4. Her Allies: A Practical Toolkit to Help Men Lead Through Advocacy by Hira Ali finished 23rd May 2024 on kindle.
  5. When She’s in the Room: How Empowering Women Empowers the World by Edwina Dunn OBE finished 2nd June 2024 on kindle.
  6. Get your inbox down to zero by Graham Allcott finished 3rd June 2024 on kindle
  7. All the beauty in the world by Patrick Bringley finished 19th June 2024 Paperback ISBN 9781529924596.
  8. Do the work by Steven Pressfield re-read kindle finished 16 July 2024
  9. Low cost / no cost tips for sustainability in cultural heritage by Lorraine Finch finished 26th August 2024 on kindle
  10. The four hour body by Tim Ferriss finished 8th September 2024
  11. Compassionate Accountability: How Leaders Build Connection and Get Results by Nate Regier finished 14th September 2024 [Audiobook]
  12. The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters finished 28th October 2024 kindle eISBN: 9781594745775
  13. Artists: inspiring stories of their lives and works by Susie Hodge and illustrated by Jessamy Hawke hardback finished 1st November 2024. ISBN 9780241534168 from the local library
  14. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick M. Lencioni finished 20 December Audiobook
  15. Platformland – an anatomy of next-generation public services by Richard Pope finished 30 December 2024. Paperback ISBN 9781916749115
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Getting to the same number

When I think I’m being very clear and someone doesn’t get me I’m reminded of the example of getting to the number four. My brain and worldview is 2+2=4. Simple. Yet another person may say 8-4=4 or 2×2=4. Then I realise there is lots of ways of arriving at the same number and that I made the assumption there was only one way. I think of this often when someone else has a different worldview but may be agreeing with the same outcome. Does it always matter how we arrive at four?

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Don’t worry I’ll do it myself

When something needs doing it is easy to insist it is done the way you know. Which spins into saying to a teammate “don’t worry I’ll do it myself”. They lose agency and you end up doing something they could have done by them and you did that other important thing.

Next time you hear yourself saying “I’ll do it myself” try to catch yourself and see what happen.

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Visible or invisible

If you want others to know what you are doing you need to tell them. If you did a good thing at work but didn’t share this with the person you think needs to know then it is invisible. When you go for a walk, do your neighbours know where you are headed unless you tell them, of course not. Your destination is invisible. I frequently hear people lament that their boss doesn’t acknoweldge their contribution and I reply “did you tell them?” the answer is almost always “no”.

In order to get known in your workplace or community you need to show up and when the time is right tell them something that makes you proud. Then on the next thing, tell them again.

Maybe it is through a conversation, an email, staff briefing, a talk or a poster.

You are either visible or invisible.

Pssst being invisible is also a superpower some folks would dream to have.

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Improving my homeworking space lighting

Throughout the pandemic I have worked in two spaces at home. Now that I have a permament space in what is a converted garage it is time to make it helpful.

Also during the pandemic I discovered the weekly videos of construction and home renovation work of Ashville which has inspired me. As a quick reminder I am in the camp of people who believe the flexibility of where you work is a good thing and we’re knee deep in the future of work but we’re too close to see where it is heading. More reason to turn a temp solution to a good one.

The room itself is 3.6m by 2.8m and has a window facing the neighbours wall (width enough for a wheelie bin). The space is both cold and suffers from poor lighting with just a single light bulb in the centre of the room.

Ever the one to use the minimum viable product approach I started as budget as I could. I recently purchased 2m of the cheapest LED stripes that Wilko sold to see if it may be a solution. The light from this £15 stripe LED was a massive improvement and proved the concept.

I then spent way too many pockets of time watching all kinds of youtube videos on home LED installs from both professionals and DI.Yers. In conclusion I really still didnt have much of a clue except that:

  • the lights generate heat so fixing them to a proper “channel” will disipate the heat
  • LED density should be 60 LEDs per m if possible
  • shallow channels aren’t as good at diffusing the light (the more diffused the less you can see each individual LED
  • Philips Hue lights seem to be the Rolls Royce of lights but I couldn’t justify the cost for what may end up backfiring

As luck would have it our in-house tech team had just finished installing a revamped event suite for our private hire. In that projet they used LEDs and I could actually understand what a channel was! It also gave me a supplier I could use as there are literally hundreds to choose from online.

Therefore I have just stumped up the best part of £250 (a lot I know!) to buy the channels which the lights will sit on and the fixing bits and bobs. You could skip everything and just use the stripe leds sticky tape to attach directly to the wall but I don’t like the idea of heat directly on my walls…. i may be overthinking on this!

I ordered the below on 30th May 2023 from Ultra LEDS and I’m hoping I will get the time during half term to install.

If this works I will take some photos and share as others may wish to fo similar. Let’s see what we can do together.